This invention relates to improvements in cutting cloth and a related method of use wherein a fabric sheet is mounted onto a backing sheet and secured against movement thereon by a suitable holding means allowing a closed shape to be cut in the fabric while being supported on the backing sheet and subsequently readily separated from it once the closed shape has been cut.
In the highly automated garment industry, pattern pieces defining parts of a total design are often defined numerically and stored electronically in memory of a computer whereupon a pattern may be projected on a CRT screen for viewing by the user. These pattern pieces are often arranged by the computer to define a marker electronically stored and manipulated by the computer so as to maximize efficiency of space between the related pattern pieces when laid out on the marker. In this way, the electronic pattern data can be used to drive a large numerically controlled automated cutting machine capable of continuously cutting pattern pieces into a very sizable lay-up of sheet material supported on a work table. An example of one such large scale cloth cutting machine is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,133,235 entitled CLOSED LOOP APPARATUS FOR CUTTING SHEET MATERIAL issued to H. J. Gerber on Jan. 9, 1979.
However, while such applications of computer driven cutting machines are very effective on a large scale basis, there are other applications which do not necessarily require the large scale capabilities provided by machines, such as disclosed in the aforementioned patent. For example, in smaller applications, such as with an individual who desires to make his or her own garment by using a store bought pattern, such a pattern may be purchased as numeric data encoded on a suitable storage medium defining a particular pattern design which may be inputted into a personal computer and subsequently used to drive a low cost cutter connected to the computer. Additionally, it may be desirable to allow the designer of such pattern pieces the capability to cut pattern pieces as they are designed in order to allow them to be fitted to a mannequin during the design operation in a manner such as disclosed in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/694,666, entitled A PATTERN DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM filed in the name of Thomas Clarino, et al. on May 2, 1991. In this way, individual pattern pieces or other graphics may be automatically cut using a compatible, low-cost cloth cutting system connected to a computer which directs the cutting of the sheet material by numeric control. Thus, there is a need given the inherent dimensional instability of fabric sheet material, to provide a cutting cloth web with a means by which it can be independently supported when placed in such low-cost machines for cutting since these machines do not have the elaborate cutting beds which accompany the large scale cutters.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a cutting cloth mounted to a backing sheet which is capable of being readily fed in advancement into an automated cutter performing a cutting operation on it without causing the fabric to be harmed by such advancement.
It is another object of the present invention to provide different types of holding means which, depending on the type of material and the manner in which it is to be cut and used, hold the fabric constituting the cutting cloth onto the backing sheet such that the cloth may be driven in advancement through automated machines which may have different material drives.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a cutting cloth mounted on a backing sheet of the aforementioned type such that the cut sheet material carried by the backing when removed from it is not marred or damaged by the means which holds it to the backing material.
Still a further object of the present invention is to provide a system wherein a cutting cloth mounted on a backing material of the aforementioned type can be cut by a low-cost cutter in accordance with numeric data stored in memory of a computer connected to it and driving the cutting machine.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following specification and appended claims.